Surprisingly, this story doesn’t involve any alcohol.
Antonio Esfandiari was disqualified from this week’s PokerStars Caribbean Adventure $5,000 main event tournament for the strangest reason we’ve ever heard of — urinating in a bottle under the table. In case you’re wondering, there is no rule against getting up and going to the bathroom during a poker tournament. The problem, according to Esfandiari himself, was that he simply couldn’t walk anymore.
From his official statement:
“This happened because of a big prop bet I had with my buddy Bill Perkins that mandated I lunge everywhere for two days. I cannot explain the pain I felt in my legs. I did what I thought was the best play at the time. Looking back now I realize it was a terrible judgment call on my behalf. I am a new father now, and this is not the kind of example I want to set for my son.
So Esfandiari had to lunge literally everywhere he walked for 48 straight hours. And he did, winning $50,000 from Perkins in the process. Here’s PokerStars’ official Twitter account documenting the lunging.
If you were wondering how Antonio Esfandiari’s day ended yesterday…we were there. https://t.co/nrybxLSTY5 pic.twitter.com/fOCBgOUmrS
— PokerStarsBlog (@PokerStarsBlog) January 11, 2016
After forfeiting his $5,000 tournament entry fee, the three-time World Series of Poker bracelet winner still comes out ahead $45,000.
“I can sit here and try to explain and justify but at the end of the day my actions were completely unacceptable,” said Esfandiari. “What’s done is done.”
“All I can do is learn from my mistakes and grow from them. I have apologized to anyone and everyone who may have been affected and will continue to do so.”
He says he will donate the money from winning the prop bet to charity to try and make up for his deplorable table behavior. Considering he has won over $26 million in poker tournaments throughout his career, we think he can probably afford it.
